▶◀ A Buddhist Monk Burned Himself to Death in His Protest against the 4 Rivers Project

Reverend Munsu, a Buddhist monk and zen master burned himself to death in the afternoon of May 31, 2010, in his protest against the Four Rivers Restoration Project of South Korea.


It is his own will written by his hand. It says "Lee Myung-bak administration should stop and scrap the Four Rivers Project. Lee administration should eradicate cor...ruption. Lee administration should try its best to support ordinary, poor and underprivileged people instead of chaebols and rich people."

In South Korea, the government is just pushing ahead the Four Rivers Project which is building more than 20 new dams and to dredge 570 million cubic meters of sand and gravel from riverbeds and riverine wetlands in the name of 'River Restoration'. The project is faced with strong opposition from local environmental groups, religious leaders and opposition parties, but the Lee administration is not willing to listen to voices of various concerns.

Here is his own hand-written will.

▶◀ May he rest in peace.